Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, for being in the House. I wish to address the failure of the Government to address the pay restoration issue for employees in health and social care sector who are employed by community and voluntary organisations. What has transpired during the past two years represents a blatant disregard for fairness and equality of treatment. To illustrate my point I will use an example of Clarecare, a professional social enterprise with charitable status providing a range of services to individuals and families in County Clare for the past 50 years. It has a workforce of approximately 420. Its services include family support services, elderly care services, counselling and addiction therapy in a residential facility. It has a wonderful ethos and staff who are truly amazing. They provide an enormous service to citizens across the county. They are highly treasured and really professional. They do an enormously good job.

Until 2014, the HSE provided all the funding to Clarecare, particularly for funding towards family support services as well as the elderly care services under what is known as a section 39 agreement. In April 2010 during the economic crash, the HSE reduced funding to Clarecare and other organisations for salaries to the tune of 4%. That had to be passed on by Clarecare to all staff. When Tusla was established in 2014 the funding of the family support services provided to Clarecare was transferred from the HSE to Tusla and since then that funding has been provided to the Clarecare under what is known as a section 56 service level agreement.

In January of this year, the HSE began pay restoration to those contracted under a section 39 agreement. However, as I understand it, no such restoration has been promised or provided to those under a section 56 agreement. In practical terms, we have a team of workers who are contracted by the State through Clarecare to provide health and social care services in County Clare. A pay cut was enforced on all of them in 2010. Pay restoration was recommenced in January of this year but only some of the workers qualify. That begs the obvious question: why? They have been told if the HSE is providing the funding they will get their pay restoration but for those who were funded by the HSE when the pay cuts were introduced in 2010 and since 2014 have been funded by Tusla, it is tough luck, they do not get restoration. That does not seem fair to me and it certainly is not seen as fair by the workers on the ground. Neither is seen as fair by the people who they work with, assist and help on a daily basis. In truth, as far as all those people are concerned, they are doing the same work they did when their funding came through the HSE stream, albeit their funding is now coming through a different route. They find it hard to understand why they are not getting pay restoration. The reality is it is State and taxpayer-funded. The fact that it is a section 39 or a section 56 service level agreement should not matter to the people on the ground.

I look forward to hearing the Minister’s views on this matter. It is blatant discrimination for a group of people who were treated in a fair and equitable way up to a certain point to now discover because their funding was transferred to a different Department they do not qualify for pay restoration of pay in terms of the pay cut they took in unison with everybody else at the time. I look forward to the Minister’s deliberations on that.